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N.J. Senate to vote on bill to allow secular wedding celebrants

wedding_cake.JPG

A wedding cake is shown in this 2009 file photo. The state Senate today is scheduled to vote on a bill to secular celebrants who are not public officials to perform weddings.
( Joe Epstein/For The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — When it comes to weddings, Democratic lawmakers are asking: What’s God got to do with it?

It’s as easy as paying $25 on a website to become ordained a “minister” so you can perform a marriage. But, under a bill scheduled for a vote in the state Senate today, you wouldn’t need to even pretend to be religious.

“It gives another group of people the right to perform marriages,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), a sponsor.

Under New Jersey law, ministers of all religions along with judges, magistrates, mayors, deputy mayors, council members and various other public officials can perform marriages.

The bill would add another category: People certified by the secretary of state who have taken a weekly “civil celebrant course” from a non-denominational or educational non-profit organization for six months and paid a $50 to $75 fee.

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Somerset), the bill’s sponsor in the lower house, said he got the idea from the Celebrant Foundation & Institute in Montclair. According to the group’s website, it aims to “affirm and celebrate milestones and transitions for all people” through training.

"I think it’s something that also creates jobs,” Chivukula said.

The bill (A2201) passed the Assembly in March 2012 by a vote of 66 to 10. But because the state Senate has amended it, if it passes the upper house today it will need to return to the Assembly one more time before reaching Gov. Chris Christie’s desk.